Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T01:02:26.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Human Rights Organizations as Agents of Change: An Experimental Examination of Framing and Micromobilization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2015

KYLA JO MCENTIRE ,
MICHELE LEIBY  and
MATTHEW KRAIN
KYLA JO MCENTIRE*
Affiliation:
Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
MICHELE LEIBY*
Affiliation:
The College of Wooster
MATTHEW KRAIN*
Affiliation:
The College of Wooster
*
Kyla Jo McEntire, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, 9328 Stones Ferry Way, Indianapolis, IN 46278 (kylamcentire@gmail.com).
Michele Leiby is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, The College of Wooster, Kauke Hall, 400 E. University St, Wooster OH 44691 (mleiby@wooster.edu).
Matthew Krain is Professor, Department of Political Science, The College of Wooster, Kauke Hall, 400 E. University St, Wooster OH 44691 (mkrain@wooster.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Human Right Organizations (HROs) attempt to shape individuals’ values and mobilize them to act. Yet little systematic research has been done to evaluate the efficacy of these efforts. We identified the three most common messaging techniques: (1) informational frames; (2) personal frames; and (3) motivational frames. We tested their efficacy using an experimental research design in which participants were randomly assigned to the control group (shown no campaign materials) or one of the treatment groups shown a campaign against sleep deprivation featuring one of these framing strategies. We then surveyed participants regarding their attitudes and their willingness to act. Results demonstrate that all three framing strategies are more effective at mobilizing consensus than action. Personal narratives are the most consistently successful, increasing individuals’ sense of knowledge on the issue and their emotional reaction to the issue, leading them to reject the practice and participate in a campaign to demand its cessation.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 109 , Issue 3 , August 2015 , pp. 407 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anonymous. Personal interview. October 23, 2013. Wooster, Ohio.Google Scholar
Ausderan, Jacob. 2014. “How Naming and Shaming Affects Human Rights Perceptions in the Shamed Country” Journal of Peace Research 51 (1): 81–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Jo. 2012. Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Benenson, Peter. 1961. “The Forgotten Prisoners.” The Observer, May 28, p. 21.Google Scholar
Benford, Robert D., and Snow, David A.. 2000. “Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment.” Annual Review of Sociology 26: 611–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berinsky, Adam J., Huber, Gregory A., and Lenz, Gabriel S.. 2012. “Evaluating Online Labor Markets for Experimental Research: Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk.” Political Analysis 20: 351–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blagrove, Mark. 1996. “Effects of Length of Sleep Deprivation on Interrogative Suggestibility.” Journal of Experimental Psychology 2 (1): 48–59.Google Scholar
Bob, Clifford. 2005. The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, Paul R. 2002. “Framing, Value Words, and Citizens’ Explanations of Their Issue Opinions.” Political Communication 19 (3): 303–16.Google Scholar
Brysk, Alison. 1993. “From Above and Below Social Movements, the International System, and Human Rights in Argentina.” Comparative Political Studies 26 (3): 259–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brysk, Alison. 2013. Speaking Rights to Power: Constructing Political Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buhrmester, Michael, Kwang, Tracy, and Gosling, Samuel D.. 2011. “Amazon's Mechanical Turk A New Source of Inexpensive, Yet High-Quality, Data?” Perspectives on Psychological Science 6 (1): 3–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, R. Charli. 2005. “‘Women, Children and Other Vulnerable Groups’: Gender, Strategic Frames and the Protection of Civilians as a Transnational Issue.” International Studies Quarterly 49 (2): 295–334.Google Scholar
Chong, Dennis, and Druckman, James N.. 2007. “Framing Theory.” Annual Review of Political Science 10: 103–26.Google Scholar
Clark, Ann Marie. 2001. Diplomacy of Conscience: Amnesty International and Changing Human Right Norms. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cohrs, J. Christopher, Maes, Jürgen, Moschner, Barbara, and Kielmann, Sven. 2007. “Determinants of Human Rights Attitudes and Behavior: A Comparison and Integration of Psychological Perspectives.” Political Psychology 28 (4): 441–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, David R., Murdie, Amanda, and Steinmetz, Coty Garnett. 2012. “‘Makers and Shapers’: Human Rights INGOs and Public Opinion.” Human Rights Quarterly 34 (1): 199–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domke, David, Shah, Dhavan V., and Wackman, Daniel B.. 1998. “Media Priming Effects: Accessibility, Association, and Activation.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 10 (1): 51–74.Google Scholar
Druckman, James N. 2001. “On the Limits of Framing Effects: Who Can Frame?” The Journal of Politics 63 (4): 1041–66.Google Scholar
Duffy, John, and Tavits, Margit. 2008. “Beliefs and Voting Decisions: A Test of the Pivotal Voter Model.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (3): 603–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edlin, Aaron, Gelman, Andrew, and Kaplan, Noah. 2007. “Voting as a Rational Choice: Why and How People Vote to Improve the Well-Being of Others.” Rationality and Society 19 (3): 293–314.Google Scholar
Elliott, Kimberly Ann, and Freeman, Richard B.. 2003. Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization? Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Gamson, William A. 1995. “Constructing Social Protest.” In Social Movements and Culture, eds. Johnston, Hank and Klandermans, Bert. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 85–106.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Green, Donald P., Gerber, Alan S., and Nickerson, David W.. 2003. “The Challenge of Bringing Voter Mobilization ‘To Scale’: An Evaluation of Youth Vote's 2002 Phone Banking Campaigns.” Typescript. Yale University, Institution for Social and Policy Studies.Google Scholar
Gronke, Paul, Rejali, Darius, Drengis, Dustin, Hicks, James, Miller, Peter, and Nakayama, Bryan. 2010. “U.S. Public Opinion on Torture, 2001–2009.” PS: Political Science and Politics 43 (3): 437–44.Google Scholar
Hafner-Burton, Emilie M. 2008. “Sticks and Stones: Naming and Shaming the Human Rights Enforcement Problem.” International Organization 62 (4): 689–716.Google Scholar
Harlow, Summer. 2012. “Social Media and Social Movements: Facebook and an Online Guatemalan Justice Movement that Moved Offline.” New Media & Society 14 (2): 225–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haspel, Moshe, and Knotts, H. Gibbs. 2005. “Location, Location, Location: Precinct Placement and the Costs of Voting.” The Journal of Politics 67 (2): 560–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendrix, Cullen S., and Wong, Wendy H.. 2013. “When Is the Pen Truly Mighty? Regime Type and the Efficacy of Naming and Shaming in Curbing Human Rights Abuses.” British Journal of Political Science 43: 651–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hertel, Shareen. 2006. Unexpected Power: Conflict and Change Among Transnational Activists. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hiscox, Michael J. 2006. “Through a Glass and Darkly: Attitudes toward International Trade and the Curious Effects of Issue Framing.” International Organization 60 (3): 755–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, Lynn. 2007. Inventing Human Rights: A History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto. 1991. Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel, and Tversky, Amos. 1979. “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk.” Econometrica 47 (2): 263–91.Google Scholar
Kahn-Greene, Ellen T., Killgore, Desiree B., Kamimori, Gary H., Balkin, Thomas J., and Killgore, William D. S.. 2007. “The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Symptoms of Psychopathology in Healthy Adults.” Sleep Medicine 8 (3): 215–21.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret E., and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret E., and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1999. “Transnational Advocacy Networks in International and Regional Politics.” International Social Science Journal 51 (159): 89–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Ji won, Kim, Yonghwan, and Yoo, Joseph Jai-sung. 2014. “The Public As Active Agents in Social Movement: Facebook and Gangjeong Movement.” Computers in Human Behavior 37: 144–51.Google Scholar
Klandermans, Bert. 1984. “Mobilization and Participation: Social-psychological Expansions of Resource Mobilization Theory.” American Sociological Review 49 (5): 583–600.Google Scholar
Klandermans, Bert. 1988. “The Formation and Mobilization of Consensus.” In Klandermans, B., Kriesi, H., and Tarrow, S. (Eds.), International Social Movement Research. Vol. 1. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 173–96.Google Scholar
Kogut, Tehila, and Ritov, Ilana. 2005. “The “Identified Victim” Effect: An Identified Group, or Just a Single Individual?” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 18 (3): 157–67.Google Scholar
Krain, Matthew. 2012. “ J’accuse! Does Naming and Shaming Perpetrators Reduce the Severity of Genocides or Politicides?” International Studies Quarterly 56 (3): 574–89.Google Scholar
Ladner, Andreas, and Pianzola, Joëlle. 2010. “Do Voting Advice Applications Have an Effect on Electoral Participation and Voter Turnout? Evidence from the 2007 Swiss Federal Elections,” in Electronic Participation. Edited by Tambouris, E., Macintosh, A., and Glassey, O.. Berlin: Springer, 211–24.Google Scholar
Larcinese, Valentino. 2007. “Does Political Knowledge Increase Turnout? Evidence from the 1997 British General Election.” Public Choice 131: 387–411.Google Scholar
Long, J. Scott, and Freese, Jeremy. 2006. Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables using Stata. College Station: Stata Press.Google Scholar
Mason, Winter, and Suri, Siddharth. 2012. “Conducting Behavioral Research on Amazon's Mechanical Turk.” Behavior Research Methods 44 (1): 1–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyerowitz, Beth E., and Chaiken, Shelly 1987. “The Effect of Message Framing on Breast Self-Examination Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52 (3): 500–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monroe, Kristen Renwick. 1996. The Heart of Altruism: Perceptions of a Common Humanity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Murdie, Amanda. 2009. “The Impact of Human Rights NGO Activity on Human Rights Practices.” International NGO Journal 4 (10): 421–40.Google Scholar
Murdie, Amanda, and Bhasin, Tavishi. 2011. “Aiding and Abetting? Human Rights INGOs and Domestic Anti-Government Protest.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 55 (2): 163–91.Google Scholar
Nagengast, Carole [Amnesty International]. Personal interview via Skype. November 5, 2013.Google Scholar
Nelson, Thomas E., Clawson, Rosalee A., and Oxley, Zoe M.. 1997. “Media Framing of a Civil Liberties Conflict and Its Effect on Tolerance.” American Political Science Review 91 (3): 567–83.Google Scholar
Nelson, Thomas E., and Oxley, Zoe M.. 1999. “Issue Framing Effects on Belief Importance and Opinion.” Journal of Politics 61 (4): 1040–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Keefe, Bill [Catholic Relief Services]. Personal interview via telephone. October 30, 2013.Google Scholar
Paolacci, Gabriele, Chandler, Jesse, and Ipeirotis, Panagiotis. 2010. “Running Experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk.” Judgment and Decision Making 5 (5): 411–9.Google Scholar
Peksen, Dursun. 2009. “Better or Worse? The Effect of Economic Sanctions on Human Rights.” Journal of Peace Research 46 (1): 59–77.Google Scholar
Peksen, Dursun. 2012. “Does Foreign Military Intervention Help Human Rights?” Political Research Quarterly 65 (3): 558–71.Google Scholar
Pilcher, June J., and Huffcutt, Allen I.. 1996. “Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Performance: a Meta-Analysis.” Sleep Medicine 19 (4): 318–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Rand, David G. 2012. “The Promise of Mechanical Turk: How Online Labor Markets Can Help Theorists Run Behavioral Experiments.” Journal of Theoretical Biology 299: 172–9.Google Scholar
Richards, David L., Morrill, Mandy M., and Anderson, Mary R.. 2012. “Some Psycho-Social Correlates of US Citizen Support for Torture.” Nordic Journal of Human Rights 30 (1): 63–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, William H., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1968. “A Theory of the Calculus of Voting.” American Political Science Review 62 (1): 25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheufele, Dietram A. 1999. “Framing as a Theory of Media Effects.” Journal of Communication 49 (1): 103–22.Google Scholar
Shen, Fuyuan. 2004. “Chronic Accessibility and Individual Cognitions: Examining the Effects of Message Frames in Political Advertisements.” Journal of Communication 54 (1): 123–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigelman, Lee, and Berry, William D.. 1982. “Cost and the Calculus of Voting.” Political Behavior 4 (4): 419–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, Deborah A., and Loewenstein, George. 2003. “Helping a Victim or Helping the Victim: Altruism and Identifiability.” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 26 (1): 5–16.Google Scholar
Small, Deborah A., Loewenstein, George, and Slovic, Paul. 2007. “Sympathy and Callousness: The Impact of Deliberative Thought on Donations to Identifiable and Statistical Victims.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 102 (2): 143–53.Google Scholar
Snow, David A., and Benford, Robert D.. 1992. “Master Frames and Cycles of Protest.” In Morris, Aldon D. and McClurg-Mueller, Carol, eds. Frontiers in Social Movement Theory. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 133–55.Google Scholar
Snow, David A., Rochford, E. Burke Jr., Worden, Steven K., and Benford, Robert D.. 1986. “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization and Movement Participation.” American Sociological Review 51 (4): 464–81.Google Scholar
Stellmacher, Jost, Sommer, Gert, and Brähler, Elmar. 2005. “The Cognitive Representation of Human Rights: Knowledge, Importance, and Commitment.” Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 11: 267–92.Google Scholar
Valdez, Patricia, and Mehrabian, Albert. 1994. “Effects of Color on Emotions.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 123 (4): 394–409.Google Scholar
Valkenburg, Patti M., Semetko, Holli A., and De Vreese, Claes H.. 1999. “The Effects of News Frames on Readers’ Thoughts and Recall.” Communication Research 26: 550–69.Google Scholar
Warkentin, Craig, and Mingst, Karen. 2000. “International Institutions, the State, and Global Civil Society in the Age of the World Wide Web.” Global Governance 6 (2): 237–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, Claude E. Jr. 1995. Protecting Human Rights in Africa: Roles and Strategies of Non-Governmental Organizations. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Williams, Richard. 2014. “Imposing and Testing Equality Constraints in Models.” https://www3.nd.edu/~rwilliam/stats2/l42.pdf (last accessed 11.01.14).Google Scholar
Wong, Wendy H. 2012. Internal Affairs: How the Structure of NGOs Transforms Human Rights. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Reed M. 2008. “A Hand upon the Throat of the Nation”: Economic Sanctions and State Repression, 1976–2001.” International Studies Quarterly 52 (4): 489–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zillmann, Dolf. 1999. “Exemplification Theory: Judging the Whole by Some of its Parts.” Media Psychology 1 (1): 69–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar